countryatlas is a join layer over other people's data. Citing the package alone under-credits the sources it reconciles, so please cite the package and whichever of the data sources your analysis actually used.
To cite the package:
Yu Y (2026). countryatlas: Join World Bank Data, Country Codes and Maps on the ISO Spine. R package version 4.0.0, https://pursuitofdatascience.github.io/countryatlas/.
Country-name reconciliation rests on countrycode:
Arel-Bundock V, Enevoldsen N, Yetman C (2018). “countrycode: An R package to convert country names and country codes.” Journal of Open Source Software, 3(28), 848. doi:10.21105/joss.00848.
Indicators fetched with world_data() / country_data() come from the World Bank:
World Bank (2024). World Development Indicators. The World Bank. https://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/.
Both geometry backends draw Natural Earth (public domain); the bundled polygons are its 1:50m admin-0 countries, version 5.1.1:
Natural Earth (2024). Natural Earth: Free vector and raster map data. Natural Earth. https://www.naturalearthdata.com/.
The default projection is Equal Earth:
Savric B, Patterson T, Jenny B (2019). “The Equal Earth map projection.” International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 33(3), 454–465. doi:10.1080/13658816.2018.1504949.
The classification guidance in world_map() / classify_compare() follows:
Brewer C, Pickle L (2002). “Evaluation of methods for classifying epidemiological data on choropleth maps in series.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 92(4), 662–681. doi:10.1111/1467-8306.00310.
value_by_alpha_map() implements:
Roth R, Woodruff A, Johnson Z (2010). “Value-by-alpha maps: an alternative technique to the cartogram.” The Cartographic Journal, 47(2), 130–140. doi:10.1179/000870409X12488753453372.
morans_i() implements:
Moran P (1950). “Notes on continuous stochastic phenomena.” Biometrika, 37(1/2), 17–23. doi:10.2307/2332142.
classify_countries() and country_classifications use the World Bank's dated classifications:
World Bank (2026). World Bank Country and Lending Groups; Historical classification by income. The World Bank. CLASS and OGHIST files; licence CC BY 4.0, https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519.
audit_time_coverage() dates independence with:
Gleditsch K, Ward M (1999). “A revised list of independent states since the congress of Vienna.” International Interactions, 25(4), 393–413. doi:10.1080/03050629908434958.
historical_geometry() draws CShapes 2.0:
Schvitz G, Rüegger S, Girardin L, Cederman L, Weidmann N, Gleditsch K (2022). “Mapping the international system, 1886-2019: the CShapes 2.0 dataset.” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 66(1), 144–161. doi:10.1177/00220027211013563.
world_map(uncertainty = ) draws a value-suppressing palette:
Correll M, Moritz D, Heer J (2018). “Value-suppressing uncertainty palettes.” In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–11. doi:10.1145/3173574.3174216.
local_morans() and lisa_map() implement:
Anselin L (1995). “Local indicators of spatial association – LISA.” Geographical Analysis, 27(2), 93–115. doi:10.1111/j.1538-4632.1995.tb00338.x.
Their false-discovery-rate control follows:
Caldas de Castro M, Singer B (2006). “Controlling the false discovery rate: a new application to account for multiple and dependent tests in local statistics of spatial association.” Geographical Analysis, 38(2), 180–208. doi:10.1111/j.0016-7363.2006.00682.x.
eb_morans_i() implements:
Assuncao R, Reis E (1999). “A new proposal to adjust Moran's I for population density.” Statistics in Medicine, 18(16), 2147–2162. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0258(19990830)18:16<2147::AID-SIM179>3.0.CO;2-I.
smooth_rates() implements:
Marshall R (1991). “Mapping disease and mortality rates using empirical Bayes estimators.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C, 40(2), 283–294. doi:10.2307/2347593.
rate_funnel() implements:
Spiegelhalter D (2005). “Funnel plots for comparing institutional performance.” Statistics in Medicine, 24(8), 1185–1202. doi:10.1002/sim.1970.
transition_matrix() implements:
Quah D (1993). “Empirical cross-section dynamics in economic growth.” European Economic Review, 37(2-3), 426–434. doi:10.1016/0014-2921(93)90031-5.
spatial_markov() implements:
Rey S (2001). “Spatial empirics for economic growth and convergence.” Geographical Analysis, 33(3), 195–214. doi:10.1111/j.1538-4632.2001.tb00444.x.
inequality() computes the Atkinson index of:
Atkinson A (1970). “On the measurement of inequality.” Journal of Economic Theory, 2(3), 244–263. doi:10.1016/0022-0531(70)90039-6.
world_map(style = "headtails") implements:
Jiang B (2013). “Head/tail breaks: a new classification scheme for data with a heavy-tailed distribution.” The Professional Geographer, 65(3), 482–494. doi:10.1080/00330124.2012.700499.
map_alt_text() follows the four-level model of:
Lundgard A, Satyanarayan A (2022). “Accessible visualization via natural language descriptions: a four-level model of semantic content.” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 28(1), 1073–1083. doi:10.1109/TVCG.2021.3114770.
ternary_map() centres its colours as in:
Schöley J (2021). “The centered ternary balance scheme: a technique to visualize surfaces of unbalanced three-part compositions.” Demographic Research, 44(19), 443–458. doi:10.4054/DemRes.2021.44.19.
check_palette() simulates colour-vision deficiency with:
Machado G, Oliveira M, Fernandes L (2009). “A physiologically-based model for simulation of color vision deficiency.” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 15(6), 1291–1298. doi:10.1109/TVCG.2009.113.
Corresponding BibTeX entries:
@Manual{,
title = {{countryatlas}: Join World Bank Data, Country Codes and
Maps on the ISO Spine},
author = {Youzhi Yu},
year = {2026},
note = {R package version 4.0.0},
url = {https://pursuitofdatascience.github.io/countryatlas/},
}
@Article{,
title = {countrycode: An {R} package to convert country names and
country codes},
author = {Vincent Arel-Bundock and Nils Enevoldsen and CJ Yetman},
journal = {Journal of Open Source Software},
volume = {3},
number = {28},
pages = {848},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.21105/joss.00848},
}
@Manual{,
title = {World Development Indicators},
author = {{World Bank}},
organization = {The World Bank},
year = {2024},
url =
{https://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/},
}
@Manual{,
title = {Natural Earth: Free vector and raster map data},
author = {{Natural Earth}},
organization = {Natural Earth},
year = {2024},
url = {https://www.naturalearthdata.com/},
}
@Article{,
title = {The Equal Earth map projection},
author = {Bojan Savric and Tom Patterson and Bernhard Jenny},
journal = {International Journal of Geographical Information
Science},
volume = {33},
number = {3},
pages = {454--465},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1080/13658816.2018.1504949},
}
@Article{,
title = {Evaluation of methods for classifying epidemiological data
on choropleth maps in series},
author = {Cynthia A. Brewer and Linda Pickle},
journal = {Annals of the Association of American Geographers},
volume = {92},
number = {4},
pages = {662--681},
year = {2002},
doi = {10.1111/1467-8306.00310},
}
@Article{,
title = {Value-by-alpha maps: an alternative technique to the
cartogram},
author = {Robert E. Roth and Andrew W. Woodruff and Zachary F.
Johnson},
journal = {The Cartographic Journal},
volume = {47},
number = {2},
pages = {130--140},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1179/000870409X12488753453372},
}
@Article{,
title = {Notes on continuous stochastic phenomena},
author = {P. A. P. Moran},
journal = {Biometrika},
volume = {37},
number = {1/2},
pages = {17--23},
year = {1950},
doi = {10.2307/2332142},
}
@Manual{,
title = {World Bank Country and Lending Groups; Historical
classification by income},
author = {{World Bank}},
organization = {The World Bank},
year = {2026},
note = {CLASS and OGHIST files; licence CC BY 4.0},
url =
{https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519},
}
@Article{,
title = {A revised list of independent states since the congress of
Vienna},
author = {Kristian S. Gleditsch and Michael D. Ward},
journal = {International Interactions},
volume = {25},
number = {4},
pages = {393--413},
year = {1999},
doi = {10.1080/03050629908434958},
}
@Article{,
title = {Mapping the international system, 1886-2019: the CShapes
2.0 dataset},
author = {Guy Schvitz and Seraina Rüegger and Luc Girardin and
Lars-Erik Cederman and Nils Weidmann and Kristian Skrede
Gleditsch},
journal = {Journal of Conflict Resolution},
volume = {66},
number = {1},
pages = {144--161},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1177/00220027211013563},
}
@InProceedings{,
title = {Value-suppressing uncertainty palettes},
author = {Michael Correll and Dominik Moritz and Jeffrey Heer},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems},
pages = {1--11},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1145/3173574.3174216},
}
@Article{,
title = {Local indicators of spatial association -- LISA},
author = {Luc Anselin},
journal = {Geographical Analysis},
volume = {27},
number = {2},
pages = {93--115},
year = {1995},
doi = {10.1111/j.1538-4632.1995.tb00338.x},
}
@Article{,
title = {Controlling the false discovery rate: a new application to
account for multiple and dependent tests in local statistics of
spatial association},
author = {Marcia {Caldas de Castro} and Burton H. Singer},
journal = {Geographical Analysis},
volume = {38},
number = {2},
pages = {180--208},
year = {2006},
doi = {10.1111/j.0016-7363.2006.00682.x},
}
@Article{,
title = {A new proposal to adjust Moran's I for population
density},
author = {Renato M. Assuncao and Edna A. Reis},
journal = {Statistics in Medicine},
volume = {18},
number = {16},
pages = {2147--2162},
year = {1999},
doi =
{10.1002/(SICI)1097-0258(19990830)18:16<2147::AID-SIM179>3.0.CO;2-I},
}
@Article{,
title = {Mapping disease and mortality rates using empirical Bayes
estimators},
author = {R. J. Marshall},
journal = {Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C},
volume = {40},
number = {2},
pages = {283--294},
year = {1991},
doi = {10.2307/2347593},
}
@Article{,
title = {Funnel plots for comparing institutional performance},
author = {David J. Spiegelhalter},
journal = {Statistics in Medicine},
volume = {24},
number = {8},
pages = {1185--1202},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1002/sim.1970},
}
@Article{,
title = {Empirical cross-section dynamics in economic growth},
author = {Danny Quah},
journal = {European Economic Review},
volume = {37},
number = {2-3},
pages = {426--434},
year = {1993},
doi = {10.1016/0014-2921(93)90031-5},
}
@Article{,
title = {Spatial empirics for economic growth and convergence},
author = {Sergio J. Rey},
journal = {Geographical Analysis},
volume = {33},
number = {3},
pages = {195--214},
year = {2001},
doi = {10.1111/j.1538-4632.2001.tb00444.x},
}
@Article{,
title = {On the measurement of inequality},
author = {Anthony B. Atkinson},
journal = {Journal of Economic Theory},
volume = {2},
number = {3},
pages = {244--263},
year = {1970},
doi = {10.1016/0022-0531(70)90039-6},
}
@Article{,
title = {Head/tail breaks: a new classification scheme for data
with a heavy-tailed distribution},
author = {Bin Jiang},
journal = {The Professional Geographer},
volume = {65},
number = {3},
pages = {482--494},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1080/00330124.2012.700499},
}
@Article{,
title = {Accessible visualization via natural language
descriptions: a four-level model of semantic content},
author = {Alan Lundgard and Arvind Satyanarayan},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer
Graphics},
volume = {28},
number = {1},
pages = {1073--1083},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1109/TVCG.2021.3114770},
}
@Article{,
title = {The centered ternary balance scheme: a technique to
visualize surfaces of unbalanced three-part compositions},
author = {Jonas Schöley},
journal = {Demographic Research},
volume = {44},
number = {19},
pages = {443--458},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.4054/DemRes.2021.44.19},
}
@Article{,
title = {A physiologically-based model for simulation of color
vision deficiency},
author = {Gustavo M. Machado and Manuel M. Oliveira and Leandro A.
F. Fernandes},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer
Graphics},
volume = {15},
number = {6},
pages = {1291--1298},
year = {2009},
doi = {10.1109/TVCG.2009.113},
}